Residents are invited to share their views at the latest round of Chesterfield Borough Council’s Community Assembly meetings.

Held four times each year, the meetings allow people to receive information and ask questions about projects led by the council and other partners that will affect them and their families.

On the agenda at the March meetings include: updates from the council’s scrutiny committee and Chesterfield College as well as a presentation from Derbyshire County Council’s public health team.

Derbyshire’s police and crime commissioner, Alan Charles, will attend the North, South and West Community Assembly meetings to give a presentation on Derbyshire’s police and crime plan.

The East Community Assembly meeting will feature a presentation on crime reduction by Derbyshire Constabulary.

Residents at the South, West and East meetings will also have the opportunity to vote on which good causes in their area can receive funding of up to £200 as part of the council’s minor grants scheme.

Councillor Sharon Blank, Chesterfield Borough Council’s Executive Member for Customers and Communities said: “I’d encourage anyone with an interest in their local area to come along to our Community Assembly meetings.

“This is their opportunity to find out what is happening in their area and to ask questions of the council and other partners.”

The meetings will take place at the following dates:

• Chesterfield North: Wednesday 4 March, St Hugh’s Church, Littlemoor
• Chesterfield South: Thursday 5 March, Town Hall, Rose Hill
• Chesterfield West: Tuesday 10 March, Town Hall, Rose Hill
• Chesterfield East: Wednesday 11 March, Staveley Miners’ Welfare, Market Street, Staveley

Each meeting will begin at 6.30pm and finish at 8.30pm and there will be a local councillors’ surgery after each meeting.

Healthwatch Derbyshire will also attend the North and East Community Assembly meetings from 6pm to ask residents about their experiences of health and social care in the county.

Plans are being put forward for a series of ground-mounted solar photovoltaic (PV) sites – better known as solar farms – to be built on currently-unused land owned by Derbyshire County Council. This includes former colliery or underused agricultural land unsuitable for growing crops.

Initial investigations have identified the following sites for potential development:

• agricultural land at Swathwick Lane, Swathwick, Wingerworth
• Westthorpe Hills, former Westthorpe Colliery
• land at Pye Bridge, Alfreton
• former Swanwick Colliery reclamation land
• agricultural land at Mansfield Road, Temple Normanton
• former Williamthorpe Colliery

It is expected that an energy supplier would pay Derbyshire County Council for each unit of electricity produced by the panels, with extra payments being made if the electricity is then exported to the National Grid.

The project, which is being put forward in partnership with the Association for Public Sector Excellence (APSE) − an organisation that supports local authorities to deliver energy schemes − is in its early stages.

Further feasibility studies would still need to be carried out. If any of the sites get the go-ahead they could be up and running by March 2016.

But before any of the locations can be considered further, local residents are to be asked their views.

Next week (Tuesday 3 March), Cabinet will be asked to approve plans to consult on the initiative. If agreed, details of the consultation will be announced shortly.

Councillor John Owen, Deputy Cabinet Member for Highways, Transport and Infrastructure, said:

“These sites are not currently being put to their best use and turning them into solar panel farms could offer great potential to generate income for the council and so help protect services.

“Generally, these proposed sites are already screened off, in out of the way areas and in most cases are not overlooked. And largely they tend not to be of much environmental interest. In some cases they could provide a good opportunity to improve the local conservation.”

Councillor Owen added:

“We have made a public commitment in our Climate Change Charter to invest in renewable energy technologies to help reduce our negative impact on climate change and provide local, green sources of energy.”

A further £69 million is to be spent on improving local council houses.

Chesterfield Borough Council is on target to ensure that all of the 9,500 homes it owns and manages will meet the government’s Decent Homes standard by the end of March, and can now begin additional upgrades to properties.  The Decent Homes standard requires all houses to meet set criteria that ensure they are warm, protected from the weather and have modern facilities.

Additional work is scheduled to take place over the next three years to:

• Install cavity wall insulation and replace older central heating systems in homes.
• Replace roofs, old UPVC windows and install external wall insulation
• Improve the environments of some housing estates, including the London Boroughs estate in Barrow Hill in 2015/16 and the Holmehall estate in 2016/17, for example creating roads, garden space and better parking areas
• Construct four new build houses in Rufford Close, Boythorpe
• Buy selected properties on the open market which meet a housing need.

Councillor Jim McManus, Chesterfield Borough Council’s Executive Member for Housing, said:

“It is a real achievement to have got our council homes to the Government’s Decent Homes Standard and delivers on our promise to tenants.

“But we don’t want to stop there because we believe council homes are not second class. They should be every bit as good as the private sector can offer.

“The extra £69 million investment we are now making over the next three years will enable us to maintain the high standards we have already met and then go over and above them.”

The funding for the housing improvements is separate to normal day-to-day council spending and cannot be spent on any other council service.

Recent changes in the rules mean councils can borrow money to invest in housing, with repayments funded by the income received from council tenants.

Chesterfield’s soon-to-be-retired workers are being encouraged to question their pension providers about options for their pension pot with only two months until major legislation changes.

The advice comes from Independent Financial Planners Cheetham Jackson, based on Saltergate, who are concerned that many people are not aware of new flexible pension rules that mean they may be able to access their entire pension pot from 6 April 2015.

According to Paul Bamford, an advisor at Cheetham Jackson, anyone due to retire prior to April 2015 should seek independent advice as their pension providers can only signpost information attached to their own plans and not give regulated advice.

He said: “We are speaking to an increasing number of people approaching retirement before April 2015 who haven’t been told of the options by their pension provider. I have concerns that people will be locked into an annuity which takes away options to use their own money in the most effective way. If the information isn’t being volunteered by pension provider, people assume an annuity is ‘the norm’. It is imperative people start to ask more questions about their options”

Cheetham Jackson offers complimentary, no-obligation drop-in advice sessions at its offices on Saltergate in Chesterfield, where advisors are on hand to offer impartial advice.

Plans have moved forward for all of Derbyshire’s councils to work together as a combined authority to boost jobs and the local economy.

Councillor Anne Western, Leader of Derbyshire County Council, said it was a “historic day” as the council’s cabinet approved plans to bring together Derbyshire’s eight district and borough councils with Derby City Council and us to:

• support local businesses to grow and prosper
• encourage investment in businesses, transport and new homes
• create more and better quality jobs.

If the proposals get the green light from all Derbyshire’s councils, it could also mean more government funding for the area.

A public consultation held to find out what local people thought of the plans received an overwhelming response and support compared to similar consultations carried out elsewhere in the country.

There were more than 750 responses to the consultation with 67 per cent saying they supported the idea and 70 per cent saying they agreed the geographical area of the Combined Authority should be Derby and Derbyshire.

Councillor Western said:

“This isn’t about merging local councils – each one would continue to run services in their own right.

“A combined authority is the key to unlocking a devolution deal from government and will put us on an equal footing with the big northern cities.

“It would mean councils across Derbyshire coming together to improve the local economy and conditions that support growth and create jobs for the good of the whole of Derby and Derbyshire. It will also mean we can access more Government funding to help do this.”

She added:

“We are setting the template for two-tier local government up and down the country. We’ve got huge ambitions we just need the tools to do the job properly.

“Working together on this proposal has already transformed relationships between councils across the county and I’m pleased that local people have recognised this is a brilliant opportunity to change the way councils do business and help us to work in a more efficient way.”

If the plans are approved by all 10 councils – including at a meeting of our Full Council on Wednesday 4 February 2015 – the proposals will be submitted during the next two weeks to central Government for further formal consultation with a view to setting up a combined authority in October.

Two Chesterfield Schools have been earmarked for help from Derbyshire County Council’s £16m capital grant allocation. The money is designed to fund modernisation projects.

The schemes which look set to be approved in a cabinet meeting on 10 February 2015 are:

• Spire Infant School – pupil numbers have risen and a new modular building is needed at a cost of £325,000. A contribution of £146,600 is being made by Barratt Homes. £178,400 is from the capital grant allocation.
• Hasland Hall School is already having work to its windows, roof and cladding carried out. Additional work is needed costing £95,950.
  Councillor Kevin Gillott, Cabinet Member for Children and Young people, said:

“Making sure Derbyshire children get the best possible education is one of our main priorities.

“By carefully allocating the money we do have, we are doing what we can to ensure our schools are modernised and meet the needs of pupils and staff.”